Murder Trial Begins In 2004 Slaying

"There Were No Signs Of Life," East Hartford Officer Says

HARTFORD — — As she always did, Trupti Patel said goodbye to her husband before she left their workplace at about 1:30 a.m. on July 9, 2004, saying she didn't have school in the morning and that she might sleep in, according to her husband's court testimony Monday.

So her husband, Alpesh Kalaria, said he was surprised when he arrived at his apartment at about 6:30 a.m. and saw that Patel wasn't in bed.

Hours later, police found the 36-year-old woman's body in a basement furnace room.

Kalaria was the second of five witnesses to testify so far against Kelvin Daye, who is charged with Patel's murder. The trial began Monday.

Daye, 43, is charged with two counts of capital felony and one count each of murder, felony murder, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree sexual assault. The state decided not to pursue the death sentence.

The case is being tried before Judge Elpedio Vitale. It is being prosecuted by David Zagaja; the public defenders are Robert Meredith and Bruce Lorenzen.

Forensic evidence will play a big role in the case. Daye's DNA was found at the scene — the basement of Patel and Kalaria's apartment at the sprawling Woodcliff Estates complex in East Hartford.

Kalaria testified that after he saw that his wife wasn't in bed, he looked out the window and saw her car in the parking lot. He then looked in a gym in the complex, but no one was there, he said.

He called someone Patel studied with at Manchester Community College, but the student confirmed what Patel had said hours earlier — there was no class that day, Kalaria said. He said he hadn't seen her.

He also called relatives in New Jersey, but no one had heard from Patel. He called police and filed a missing persons report, Kalaria testified.

That night, some of Kalaria's friends came over to help him find his wife. A friend saw that a window in a door leading to the basement from the stairwell that Patel used was broken, he testified.

They called police, and when the door was finally opened, Kalaria saw a pair of eyeglasses that looked like Patel's lying on the basement floor.

"Then the police told me to go back to my apartment," Kalaria said.

Officer Adam Aborn testified that he followed a trail of blood — some of which was smeared on the walls — to a basement furnace room where he saw a large pool of blood. Beyond that was a body that he later learned was Patel's. She was face down, had a garbage bag over her head and, he said, "there were no signs of life."

During cross examination by Meredith, Aborn testified that Kalaria had what seemed to be an odor of alcohol on his breath.

Meredith also made sure the jury knew that Kalaria was initially a suspect. He pointed out, through his questioning, that investigators swabbed his mouth for DNA, and he asked Kalaria what he knew about his wife's life insurance policy.

Meredith also asked questions about their marriage, which took place in India and was arranged by their fathers.